“I heard your lecture,” I said softly, sweeping my hand lightly across my collarbone—a subtle, calculated move. “You weren’t just talking. Youbelievein what you’re saying. I could feel it.”
His gaze dropped, just for a second, to where my tank top dipped, then quickly shot back to my eyes like he’d just committed a crime. “Yeah… I’m a grad student.”
“What classes are you taking?”
He rattled off course titles—Anthropological Advances,The History of Ancient Civilizations, and others with names that made my heart leap with possibility.
But before I could say more, the hallway filled with noise. His classmates began spilling out of Room 14 in a chaotic wave of chatter and movement.
Startled, Jack glanced over his shoulder—then bolted.
Gone in a heartbeat.
I turned to find Lee leaning against the wall, arms crossed, a smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth.
“Let’s get me enrolled,” I said.
Two of Jack’s courses were held in massive auditoriums, which made slipping in easy. I moved through those halls like I belonged there, scanning rows until I spotted him, always positioning myself near enough to talk without drawing attention.
Over the next few weeks, I did everything I could to build a connection—catching him after class, striking up conversations in the hall, always careful not to push too hard. Jack remained guarded, a fortress surrounded by suspicion. He’d be warm one moment—curious, even flirty—and then cold the next, scanning the room like he expected betrayal to come from any direction.
Whenever someone so much as looked his way, he clammed up. Sometimes, he fled.
After weeks of chasing breadcrumbs, I could feel my resolve fraying.
I didn’t come all this way through time, across realities, to bepushed aside like a curiosity. I came for answers. I searched for the truth.
And I wasnotgoing to be ignored.
My classes were finally over, and I clomped up the stairs to the apartment Lee and I shared. The building had seen better decades—its peeling paint, dusty corridors, and groaning staircases told stories of long-forgotten tenants.
Inside, our apartment was a patchwork of survival. The white walls were stained with age, and the ceiling pressed down low like a secret too heavy to lift. The gray sofa was frayed but surprisingly comfortable, and our coffee table—a scuffed old trunk we found at a thrift store—added a touch of rugged charm. Still, at least this place didn’t have holes in the walls that let in wind and damp like Philip’s miserable cabin.
I dropped my textbooks onto the couch and collapsed beside them, resting my head against the back cushion. Another day was gone, and Jack James still had no real progress. He was like smoke—always within sight, never within reach. Too cagey. Too evasive. Tooafraid.
His eyes were hollowed out by exhaustion, dark circles shadowing them like bruises. His frame was all angles and tension, like he’d been wrung out by torment I couldn’t begin to understand. There was something haunted in how he moved—something unraveling—a mad scientist teetering on the edge. The students mocked him mercilessly, whispering behind his back, daring him to snap.
How the hell was I supposed to get close to someone like that?
When Lee arrived, I was still parked in the same spot, stewing over the same question.
He kicked the door shut behind him, arms full of groceries. “Why the long face?” he asked, heading toward our cramped kitchen. It had a single dusty window that looked out onto a cluttered alley and countertops littered with mismatched dishes and chipped mugs.
I watched him unpack the usual horrors—boxed mac and cheese, canned Spaghetti-Os, and off-brand cereal that looked like it would turn to mush in milk.
We were scraping by on Lee’s meager paycheck and lucky to eat at all.
“I can’t get close to Jack,” I muttered. “He’s like this twitchy little rat who vanishes at the slightest sound.”
Lee snorted. “And your legendary seduction skills are failing? Shocking.”
I shot him a glare. “This isn’t just about seduction. He’s unraveling. But there’s something important in that unraveling—Iknowit.”
Lee slammed a can of coffee onto the counter a little harder than necessary. “So what? You want to set up a trap with cheese and wait for him to wander in?”
“No,” I said, sitting up straighter. “What if I moved into a dorm? I’d be on campus more. Easier access. I could casually bump into him—get him to trust me.”
Lee turned, narrowing his eyes. “Absolutely not. Not if I’m the one paying.”
